Presidents Notes

President Usha's Notes

4 November 2020

Dear fellows,

Pondering

"Everyone's perspective of themselves and others is based on the limitations of their exposure. You have to see and smell and feel the circumstances of people to really understand them."

Kamala Devi Harris, Vice-president-elect, United States of America

Much is happening in and around the world. USA has a new president-elect and vice president-elect. Our State of Origin rages on with the Blues hopefully coming back.

President for 2021-2022
On behalf of the nominating committee, PDG David Croft has advised that PP Thaya Ponniah is our President-elect for the remainder of 2020/21 and will be President for the years 2021/22. Congratulations Thaya, our good wishes are with you. Thaya has been contributing tirelessly for some time and I believe the club is going into safe hands. Once more PDG David Croft and the nominating committee with their extensive experience and understanding of the workings of Rotary Clubs have made a valuable contribution in this decision

50th Anniversary
Our club's 50th Anniversary committee has taken off and swung into action. Last Friday at a zoom meeting, the date has been finalised for 13th March 2021. PP Raymond McCluskie has been active on the Facebook (click) and I gather this entry is generating much interest.

Club BBQ
SGHS Pink Stumps BBQ fundraiser, a small regular event at this time of the year will be held on 19th November and PP Graham True has volunteered to manage this BBQ.

Pride of Workmanship
The Pride of Workmanship Award Committee is working energetically to put up a great show (click) on 25th November. Registrations are open and bookings can be made easily through the humanitix link (click) or by paying into the club account.
On this evening, we will also induct our new honorary member, Dr Fiona Martin, Federal Member for Reid.

AGM
The AGM is coming up on 2nd December and I hope some of you have given thought to what contribution you would like to make in the coming year.

Christmas party
And finally some real fun and frivolity at our Christmas party on Friday, 11th December at Nonna & Co.

Youth Awards
The Youth Awards are all ready to be distributed to the schools prior to the Christmas break, thanks to Bradley Ayres' diligent persistence. Some of us may volunteer to present them at assemblies.

Constitution and By-laws change
This week we had our Board meeting and among other decisions, the Board approved the proposed changes to the Club’s Constitution and By-laws for consideration as a special resolution at the Club’s Annual General Meeting on 2 December 2020.

Guest Speaker roundup
Last Wednesday we had a informative talk from Shannon Chin on "Cognitive Health and Wellbeing". Taking excerpts from her book "Demystifying Dementia" she discussed how we can keep the brain function healthy by practising some simple techniques. More about this from Janelle Watson in our bulletin (click)

We also received a short visit from our speaker of previous week, Dr. Neil Jeyasingam to discuss more about his upcoming project Wisdom-Connect, the new video-conferencing platform designed specifically for the use of residents of aged care facilities to connect with others. According to Neil, this is a new program, a bit rough around the edges, but showing great potential. We hope to hear more from him in the coming days.

Wednesday night
This week and next week, our meetings will continue to be shorter and close at 8.00pm to allow our rugby fans to enjoy the State of Origin matches. We will have a great night inducting our newest member Ying Ho and the opportunity for fellowship and fun with our president-elect and sergeant. There is also the option of gathering in front of the big screen after the meeting to watch this second and perhaps the most exciting match.

Usha Garg
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